NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has released the latest test results for its next-generation rover prototype, Ernest (Exploration Rover for Navigating Extreme Sloped Terrain). During seven days of continuous testing in the Colorado desert, the prototype traveled approximately 16 miles over 37 hours, with a top speed of about 0.6 miles per hour — roughly six times faster than the Perseverance rover’s maximum speed on flat ground (less than 0.1 mph). Ernest features a four-wheel design (current Mars rovers have six wheels) and is about 4 feet long, which would scale up to around 8 feet for actual missions. The key upgrade is its active suspension system: each wheel can be raised independently, supporting movement modes like “crawling”, “wheel-walking”, and “obstacle climbing”. A gimbal formed by two powered joints at the front enables four-way omnidirectional driving, and the system can switch between active and passive suspension modes on demand to balance energy consumption. Development of Ernest began in 2022, and it has since undergone multiple iterations and nearly ten different active suspension configurations. The latest version also includes “enhanced autonomous decision-making” aimed at reducing real-time reliance on ground control teams.
JPL planetary scientist James Keane stated: “This rover lets you take a scientific road trip on the Moon or Mars.” The current Mars rovers have two main weaknesses: their passive suspension (rocker-bogie system) offers limited mobility on steep slopes, rocks, and quicksand-like terrain, causing significant wheel wear; their slow speed makes the remote command cycle a bottleneck for exploration. Ernest’s active suspension approach is designed to address these limitations, with the ultimate goal of supporting broader and more efficient exploration missions on the lunar south pole and Mars in the future.